Before I could string full sentences together, I used to wander outside past my bedtime. I would push open the sliding glass door and immediately look up, searching for stars sprinkled beyond the silhouetted trees. At the time, I couldn’t even begin to comprehend what I was seeing. Instead, each beacon of light represented a mystery, a final frontier in a vast, unknown universe.

Today, two-plus decades of personal discovery leaning on centuries of scientific discovery have given me...